This Silence is Mine
by NeonZangetsu
Summary: "There can be no silence without sound. Nor can there be sound, without silence. And this silence is mine. So is he. MINE." A strange event launches Alma Wade into the Elemental Nations, uniting her, with one who shares her pain. This world will know fear. It will know terror. It will know the horror that is love. A new chapter of F.E.A.R. unfolds. NarutoxAlma! Hope you enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Alright! After being pestered for so long I've finally dug my claws into this idea, into F.E.A.R. Blowing my way through all three games, the latter of which I've nearly finished. Now y'see, I didn't know where or when to place it at first, didn't want to alter too much. But then it hit me. What does it have no short of? Terror! Fear itself, if you excus the pun. The game scared the living crap out of me and that is no mean feat**

** Almost anything can happen in this game ya know? Now, screwing around with canon is one thing. But messing with it as a whole...well, I'm rather new to the whole F.E.A.R. thing, but I do have some experience in what I'm doing here.**

**So...fair warning! The genre is Romance/Horror and the rating is M for Mature, and follows Naruto and Alma throughout their lives! Now remember folks, this is ALMA we're talking abou here. She ain't all that nice. THERE WILL BE BUCKETS OF BLOOD AND CHARACTER DEATH! If you don't like that, leave. Disclaimer over. Now for those of you who are still here...**

**...BRACE THYSELVES!**

_"Without life there is not even a shred of fear. There can be no silence without sound. Nor can there be sound, without silence. And this silence-he!-is mine. MINE."_

_~?_

**This Silence is Mine**

_Some doors should never be opened._

Orochimaru had been told this many a time before; by his teachers, students, mentors, even his friends. Fools, the lot of them. He hadn't listened then, and he certainly wasn't listening now. Through years of careful-if a tad questionable-experimentation he had achieved much, gained much, learned much...but it was not enough. Never enough. Even his own villlage was merely a means to an end-a means by which he might discover new, wonderous things. Always, new things!

Some doors must never be opened, eh?

_Bah!_

Such a weak sentiment! He spat in the face of such a saying; for one such as him, for one who feared not the reaper, there were always doors to opened, always new techniques to be learned. New limits to test! Things not only shinobi, but mankind could only dream of! Such as...this. Life and death did not concern him, but one could learn fascinating things from the beyond...

Today, he was attempting to tear apart the very fabric of reality itself. Well, perhaps that was too strong a word. He was merely seeking to open a _portal_ into another ether, not collapse reality. And he was so close! So very terribly, horribly close! Through a marvelous union of ninjutsu and technology, he'd devised a means to make it so,to make his gruesome dream a reality. Dozens of lives had been sacrificed, their chakra-and very souls-used to power the amaglam of circuitry he'd cobbled together. What manner of secrets could he learn from the beyond?! The possibilities were endless!

Why, you ask? Curiosity! With a generous smattering of avarice, of course...

It stood to reason that there were many universes beyond his own. That there were, in fact, many, many, MANY different realms, just as there were heaven and hell. The sly sanin had glimpsed their depths through the occult and other, less invasive means, but he knew they existed. Worlds were Gods of Death cut down evil spirits in the afterlife. Lands in which warriors battled one another, in giant suits of armor. Even battles beyond the very stars themselves, were different races-some with strange bodies and stranger faces-fought equally strange, alien machines with the fate of entire worlds at stake.

Indeed, there sooooo many, he could not count hope to count them all! But it was time, time for greatness! Thanks to a few descreet gene samples taken from that Kyuubi brat, and just a touch of his tenant's chakra, it was sure to work! Certain, he told himself.

Without life there is not even a shred of fear. Perhaps it could be said that Orochimaru wasn't truly alive, that his prideful green surpassed common sense to such a degree that he no longer feared the rammifications of his actions. This was a momentous event nonetheless, and so he had sent Kabuto away, wishing the first fruits of this new world for himself. He was alone.

Thus, in his arrogance, this stupid, soulless man threw the switch.

With a terrible keening sound-not unlike that of a woman's wail-a blazing discus of orange/red blossomed into existence before him, hissing and spitting. He saw countless words laid out before him but none he desired to touch, none that aroused his curiosity. And then, like a stone cast upon the water's surface, it rippled. Changed. The sanin frowned. No, that shouldn't be possible. Something was influencing the portal, molding it to their will. Golden eyes grew wide, bulging as a small, bloody hand thrust itself into existence. What?! What was-

The portal lasted all of an instant longer, but in that instant...

...something came through.

Orochimaru's world went sideways in a cone of fiery destruction, the lab imploding around him a sea of shattered glass and tortured screams. Mercifully he remained conscious...though in hindsight, he almost wished he hadn't.

His lab lay sprawled out before him, the test subjects little more than charred corpses in their cages. Shadows danced dimly in the broken lights, illuminating bloody smears on the wall where the more unfortunate ones had tried to escape and been ground to a fine, meaty paste. Despite himself and all he'd seen throughout his storied career, the man gagged. Moments later his stomach seemed to come to the same accord, divesting a half-eaten bit of food onto the bloody tiles at his feet.

_...free. I'm...free...where am I?'_

Orochimaru glanced up at the sound of the voice...and froze at the sight of the bloodstained spectre standing before him. He was not expecting this.

Skin pale as ash. Eyes the color of warm honeysuckle. Hair dark as night; ebon tresses the color of crow's wings. Clad in a red velvet dress. He couldn't bear to look straight at her-nay, the very act of doing so caused a massive migraine to pound at his temples. A very real trickle of fear wormed its way into his heart. This girl...what was she...?

Then she saw him.

The little girl smiled softly, cocked her head aside, and pressed a single, solitary finger to her lips. _You're going to die. _Against all odds, he heard the words, though her lips did not move. A voice that sent cold fingers of dread trailing up and down his spine, a noose of ice and fire wrapping itself round his neck. He tried furtively to stand, but a bolt of agony prevented him. When he risked a glance down, he saw why; one of his legs had been shorn off just above the knee. When he tried to raise his arm, that too vanished, gone in a bloody mist. The poor man couldn't even bring himself to scream.

The girl came closer. Orochimaru cringed.

"W-W-What are you?"

_'Alma.'_

One moment she was a little girl; the next, a grown woman. Then a girl again. What madness was this? Were his eyes playing tricks on him, somehow? Warm. He felt..oddly warm. His legs, his chest, now his arms, why couldn't he make himself move and oh dear sweet kami what was happening, his skin was falling away oh, make it stop make it stopstopstopstopstopstop-

His last thought was thus:

_What have I unleashed...?_

And then he only knew the abyss that he had eluded for so very long.

Alma Wade stared down at the still-steaming skeleton that had once belonged to the reviled member of the Sanin. She didn't know where she was. When she was. All she knew was that she was free. Free from the cold and cruel machines, the men, and their hateful experiments. She felt something then, a stirring, a curiosity, drawing her attention. It was like a scent; subtle but faint, lingering in the ashes of the lab. Whatever it was it set her into a frenzy; her little eyes grew wide, and a small smile blossomed on her bloody face. A tiny giggle forced itself between her lips.

_She'd found someone like her._

That same night, miles away in the Hidden Leaf village...Uzumaki Naruto began to have the strangest dreams. He dreamnt of this strange, silent little girl, unaware of the terror that had just become fixated upon him. It was already decided in that instant, his strange fate, sealed in the moment that Alma Wade became aware of his existence.

_They were, each of them, only eight years old._

**A/N: And there we have it! NarutoxAlma! I've only seen two stories pairing these two together, but I thought to myself, what if it started from the beginning. A young Alma and a young Naruto, all of this before the F.E.A.R. games themselves. Now, I obviously didn't want to bring Naruto to Alma's world-tried that already, it just didn't work-but the thought of little Alma Wade raining down a fiery vengeance on any who dared to trifle with what she saw as hers, now...that's something I could get behind! And yes, Orochimaru is dead! Kaput! Gonzo! He won't be coming back!**

**So, in the Immortal Words of Atlas...**

**...Review, Would You Kindly? And of course, enjoy the preview! The death and horror continues! With just a little obsessive fluff...**

**(Preview)**

_Alma scowled._

_She didn't like the pink one. No, perhaps that wasn't strong enough. She HATED the pink one._

_She was rude to Naruto, always pushing the smaller boy around, always ignoring him. And yet...and yet...!_

_HE focused on her. He pleaded for her attention, begged for her affections, when HE belonged to her. Would she take him away? No. A seed of anger, then fear began to grow in Alma's heart, twisted and knotted like a gnarled root. No. Naruto belonged to her. He was her friend. And any who dared to hurt him would pay the price. Eyes narrow, she focused her will on the green-eyed girl, bringing all that not-so-insubstantial wrath to bear upon her in a tidal wave of force._

_With a single thought, Haruno Sakura began to bleed._

**R&R! =D**


	2. The Girl in Red

**A/N: Alright! After being pestered for so long I've finally dug my claws into this idea, into F.E.A.R. Blowing my way through all three games, the latter of which I've nearly finished. Now y'see, I didn't know where or when to place it at first, didn't want to alter too much. But then it hit me. What does it have no short of? Terror! Fear itself, if you excus the pun. The game scared the living crap out of me and that is no mean feat**

** Almost anything can happen in this game ya know? Now, screwing a****round with canon is one thing. But messing with it as a whole...well, I'm rather new to the whole F.E.A.R. thing, but I do have some experience in what I'm doing here.**

**So...fair warning! The genre is Romance/Horror and the rating is M for Mature, and follows Naruto and Alma throughout their lives! Now remember folks, this is ALMA we're talking abou here. She ain't all that nice. THERE WILL BE BUCKETS OF BLOOD AND CHARACTER DEATH! If you don't like that, leave. Disclaimer over. Now for those of you who are still here...**

**...BRACE THYSELVES! And to clarify, Alma is alive. She hasn't suffered her first death yet. Still, she's terrifying powerful, and terribly cute when she wants to be, as you're all about to see...**

_"It is the way of men to make monsters..and it is the nature of monsters to destroy their makers."_

_~?_

**The Girl in Red**

Harlan Wade was angry.

No, perhaps angry was too tame of a word. Anger implied some semblance of restraint. Of control-a control he no longer truly possessed. No, what he felt was fury; a mindless _hate _that defied all logic. Hate for himself, for his daughter, for his once grand dream, now an open, shattered tube, mocking him with his silence. His hand traced the empty cylinder that had once housed his eldest child, and he felt...nothing. Not even so much as a hint of her psychic residue. No. Wait. Perhaps he _did _feel something.

_Laughter._

Impossible to decipher, terribly painful to comprehend, he heard Alma's voice, delighted and maddeningly joyful, bleating in his head. An eerie vision flashed through his head, her subsuquent escape laid out before him in hated, excruciating detail. _I win, daddy, I win!_ she said, grinning at him, giggling_. I win I win__iwiniwiniwiniwiniwnandyouLOSE_! The sheer hate-the malevolent malice-in her voice left no llusions as to how she felt about him, about her captivity.

Almost as if she were mocking him.

It lasted for all of an instant longer, just long enough to burn itself into the back of his brain, and then it was over.

Wherever she was, _whenever_ she was, she was well and truly gone now.

The only clue they had was a sudden upswing of psychic energy in the vault, of violence and insanity. Then it was over. A flash of orange light on the cameras and then...she was gone. Gone. His fists tightened around the metal shards, their jagged biting into his palms and drawing blood.

There was nothing anymore.

Nothing. Nothing at all! Because she was gone. Alma was gone. It defied all logic and reason. One moment the facility had been perfectly secure; the next, all hell broke loose. _Three seconds._ That was all it took for the safeguards to fail-for his daughter to wreak havoc and dissapear. It was...grisly, to say the least. Walls were painted red with blood, earthquakes rocked the building, scorched skeletons marked the last resting place of those who had simply disintegrated where they stood, dead before they coul flee. They were still counting the dead and those that were injured, though it was mostly the former.

All of this, from her place underground...she must've been so furious. So was he!

His horn-rimmed glasses lay crushed underfoot, crunching now beneath his boot as he removed his foot. With painstaking care, Wade brushed them off...and crushed the plastic into his fist. Again there was pain, but it was a good pain, one filled with prompise and purpose. Direction.

His children would have been gods! But without Alma there was nothing. Nothing at all. No prototypes, no grand plan, no...anything! How could she, an eight year old girl, have escaped from the vault?! She was meant to be comatose! In a coma! Yet someone-something-had woken her, wrested her from the chamber. No! She woul not deny him his legacy! In that instant, he swore he would find her. Bring her back here.

He _would_ find a way.

* * *

><p>That same night, a dimension away in the Hidden Leaf village...Uzumaki Naruto began to have the strangest dreams. He dreamt of this strange, silent little girl, unaware of the terror that had just become fixated upon him. It was already decided in that instant, his strange fate, sealed in the moment that Alma Wade became aware of his existence. These were his dreams. His. Hers. <em>Theirs.<em> Sometimes they were painful-at others they merely made him smile, tremble in his sleep.

_'Naruto,'_ she would whisper sweet nothings to him while he slumbered. '_Naruto...why are you crying, Naruto?' _She told him what he was in no uncertain terms but she wasn't cruel about it; she said that he was special, unique, gifted. Oh so very very _very_ gifted indeed, He wasn't a monster.

Oftentimes, her words proved more sinister.

_'Kill them.' _her voice would urge, demanding the blood of all those who had tormented him over the years._ 'Kill them all.' _An eye for an eye. Tooth for a tooth. Evil for evil. Blood for blood. The fox liked that; he seemed to enjoy these subtle promises of bloody retribution. But in the same vein it feared her after that first outburst, not daring to speak whenever the girl was near, always whispering death in his ear. The girl didn't like the fox at all, but her promises of vengeance never seemed to stop.

Sometimes Naruto was almost tempted to listen to her. But he was a good boy at heart, and tried not to. He tried to be nice, _tried _to fit in, to ignore the bullies and the others who hurt him.

Then the mistress of the orphanage started beating him. Mistress Whoolsey had lost a daughter and husband both during the beast's rampage nearly eight years before, so she, like some, harboured a special brand of hatred for the fox-in this chase, mistaken to be her young charge. She'd always loathed him, despised him, calling him demon brat or worse when the guards weren't there to watch him. She spit at him and barely fed him, treating him like less than dirt. And those were the good days.

But today, on the anniversay of what had been known as the Kyuubi's "death", she took it a step furter. She broke out the switch.

Alma didn't like that. Not one bit.

From her distant place in Hidden Sound, she saw it all through Naruto's eyes, through the pyschic link Orochimaru had unwittingly forged between them. Watched, as she dared_-DARED!-_to lay hands on him. No. No one was allowed to touch Naruto. No one was allowed to hurt him, make him cry, make him beg for mercy.

No one!

In a fit of pique, she inflicted the worst tortue she knew. With vindictive spite, a trickle of power flooded through her and into the boy, empowering him with all of her anger, all of her rage, all of her malice. She offered a tiny whisper-little more than a breath of sound into his ear. _Kill her._ And he did. In the instant that the belt touched Naruto's back for the fifth and final time, the raving woman burst into a cloud of ash and flame. She didn't even have time to scream before the scorched bones of her body struck the floor, clattering loudly.

Some of the children panicked and tried to hurt him after that, so Alma told Naruto to hurt them, too. But he didn't. To her dimsay he left them alone, just sitting there until the Anbu came.

Even distant and draining as it was, she was more than capable of breaking someone like the head-mistress and a few brats who didn't know their place. Unfortunately, Whoolsey's demise was blamed on the boy. Alma watched with a touch of dismay-and a just a little bit of satisfaction-as he was taken away from them and sequestered, alone in the residential district.

He was tendered an apartment of his own shortly afterwards, at the Hokage's expense, then placed under close personal guard by the most elite of Anbu agents. That only made the loneliness worse. Without the other children-many of whom actively shunned him now-there was only the silence as his companion. Dreams became his only solace.

These strange, odd night phantoms, persisted for nearly two solid weeks afterwards, flashes of light, sight and sound, forgotten on waking. At first, he didn't think much of them. He was but a child after all and most children, while they find their dreams fascinating, lose interest in them all too quickly. He barely remembered the girl in his visions, the strange, simple little spectre who hummed quietly to him. Sometimes she even sang. Still, he woke to that strange feeling that he'd forgotten something; failed to remember a terribly important event.

Then one night, the visions changed.

* * *

><p><em>'Naruto.'<em>

His eyes opened to the dream once more.

As ever the scene was much the same as before, he found himself standing near an old, hollowed-out tree, the faded remnants of a battered swing clinging to it with surprising tenacity. An audible _creak-creak-creak_ of a sound punctuated each movement, sending it rocking too and fro. This time however the swing wasn't empty. Someone was sitting in it. He found that odd-among other things. Whenever he dreamed it was never so clear, so pristine. So...serene.

_'Naruto!'_

For once, the bleak, storm-clouded sky, usually so devoid of light, was actually _bright_ for once. And that terrified him. An eerie red sun stared down at him, bathing the hill in courscating waves of golden amber, almost painful to look at. The cold grey heavens were nearly devoid of clouds, replaced by that eerie eye, staring down at him. Part of him thought it was very pretty...the other part, not so much.

_**'NARUTO!'** _the voice was louder now, frantic, almost...eager even, to meet him.

With growing trepidation Naruto scaled the hill, feeling the grass tickle his bare feet as he did so. It was not an unplesant sensation, but at the same time as if tiny razor blades were scraping across the soles.

Then she saw him.

_'Ah!'_ The girl leapt from the swing and dashed forward at him, her dirty face alight. Naruto actually took a step back, so startled was he by her enthusiasm. Whomever she was she looked genuinely happy to see him-which was good, he supposed-given that was quite frightening in her own right. Little red dress, bright eyes and dark hair, skin that hadn't seen the sun in an age. If she noticed his hesitation she didn't seem to care, indeed, she seemed to enraptured to do so. Clamoring to a halt, she rocked back on the balls of her tiny feet, grinning at him.

Then her hands seized his by the palms, locking him in a terifying grip. Those golden, amber eyes blazed up at him.

_'Found you.' _she cried, delighted, bounding up and down, the motion sending her ebon tresses bouncing. _'Found you found youfoundyoufoundyoufoundyou!' _A miasma of ecstatic emotions assailed him, accompanied by a joy so powerful it nearly brought him to his knees. But this glee felt _tainted_ somehow, warped by an obsession so intense, he couldn't understand it. In the end, his young mind dismissed it. She was happy to see him as was he, her, and that was all that mattered.

_'Yes.'_ She chirruped gleefully at the thought, barely able to contain herself. _'Happy. So happy!' _For a moment he thought she was going to start jumping up and down again but no-she seemed to have spent much of her enthusiasm in that regard. But, she had other ways of showing just how overjoyed she truy was. To his disbelief, she tugged his hands and yanked him forward into a fierce hug; nuzzling her head into his chest. _Purring_ like a contented kitten. _'Never leave you again,' _she said, burying her face into his shoulder with fierce determination._ 'Never.'_ it sounded suspiciously like a vow, a promise. An oath.

A bond.

Naruo wasn't entirely certain _why_ she was so unsually happy, but it was certainly contagious. Yet that joy was tempered with the knowledge that this was just that; a dream. She wouldn't be here when he woke up. He would be alone. Again. A pang of loneliness stabbed at him. In that same instant, the girl jerked back with a flinch, looking as though she'd just been slapped. By him. That pensive, pitiful expression tugged painfully at heartstrings Naruto hadn't even known were there.

_'Why hurt?' _she looked so sad...

Now, Naruto felt supremely stupid conversing with this dream girl, but he simply couldn't bring himself to turn and walk away from those shining orbs. Unwilingly, he answered:

"You...you're not real."

Anger darkened her pale features, a thunderclap of annoyance drying her eyes and darkening the skies in an instant. _'Yes, I am!'_

"You are?"

She nodded abruptly, her head bobbing down, then up in a jerky nod.

_'Yes.'_

"But...you're here." he pointed out. "In my head."

_'Yes.'_ Again with the one-word answers. _'Outside. Too.' _Okay, two then. Was she too excited to speak properly? Boyish pride thrust that thought away.

"W-What's your name, then, 'ttebayo?" he sputtered, indignant.

Her eyes were ablaze with sinister joy now as she beamed up at him with another eerilly ominous smile. Now that he got a look at her he realized it _wasn't _ a trick of the light. Her legs really _were_ covered with blood up to her knees. He could feel the miasma surround him once more, but this time, he did not feel threatened in the least. It felt soothing, comforting, even. As though she were trying to reassure him, somehow. Strangely enough, it worked.

_...Alma.'_ she said. Then, suddenly serious, she offered him her hand._ 'Do you want to play a game, Naruto?'_

"What kind of game?"

Her eyes seemed to dance._ 'The fun kind.'_

He eyes the limb as though it were a snake, ready to rear up and bite him at the slightest provocation. Solemnly, Alma stretched her hand out just a _little_ further, a girlish grin of impatience betrayng her otherwise quiet and diffident demeanor. Gulping, he reached out, tentatively, hesitantly, his fingertips brushing hers, then curling inwards against her own as he took her hand-

_Pain!_

Naruto yelped, his mind bleating in agony as a thousand images assailed him. _Why?_ Alma's voice suddenly inquired, resonating within his head. _Why are they hurting me? Make it stop. Daddy make it stop make it stop make it stopstopstopstopSTOP!_ He tugged at his arm but found himself unable to retract his hand. Likewise Alma appeared riveted, staring at him, looking through him. What was she seeing? What was she feeling? He didn't know, and in that moment, he was in too much pain to care. He saw everything about her; and like as it was, she saw everything about him, too. He also saw something else. Something that terrified him.

Finally the invisible force holding him abated, and he jerked his arm free, glaring.

"You...you killed her!" They both knew to whom he spoke,

Her face grew still and curiously calm for a moment. _'Yes.'_ she said at last._ 'I did.'_

"Why?!"

_'Because she hurt you.'_ Alma cocked her head aside, trying not to let her anger show. _'No one should hurt you. And I won't let them!' _Before he could think to stop her the small goddess of death darted forward and laid a swift peck upon his cheek, her lips lingering for all of an instant. Then she danced away, grinning, vanishing before his very eyes.

_'Goodbye, Naruto.'_

He thought her smile was the most beautiful thing in the world.

_They were, each of them, only eight years old._

* * *

><p>If one were to look up the definition of determination in the dictionary, you would find a picture of Alma Wade.<p>

_Alma._

_ Wade._

This powerful emotion had defined her since the age of three, when she first learned of her powers. When the experiments began. Her hate had made her strong, _determined_, focused. Singular in her goal not only to try and survive, but to visit vengeance-sweet, swift vengeance!-on those who had wronged her for something she couldn't control.

They said she was very, _very_ sensitive to negative emotions. Perhaps she was. Alma didn't rightly know. But throughout all the pain, all the torture inflicted upon her, she still held onto that tiny seed of hope.

Determination.

It had lingered with her through all the pain all the poking, alll the prodding. She hated her mother, hated the scientists who had cut and sliced into her, hated her sister for the blessed kindness that was given, and she hate hate hate _hatehatehatehatehatehatehate_HATED her father, Harlan Wade. Just thinking about HIM blended her thoughts together tunelessly. But not nearly as much as the hate she felt for these people, those who had _hurt _Naruto, who continued to hurt him, who enjoyed hurting him...

Her rage turned everything scarlet; threatening to destroy this small apartment in which she found herself. Furniture lifted, held aloft by the sheer force of her malice. Walls trembled. The very room itself threatened to give way, come uprooted when faced with her wrath, raising such a clatter-

That it woke the boy she was watching.

Naruto groaned on a sudden, his body tossing restlessly amidst the sheets. Azure eyes fluttered open, bleakly regarding the moonlit room.

"Whuzzat...?" he called out, bleary with sleep. It was almost too much to pray that he didn't notice her; because, sure enough, the boy did. Those shap eyes fastened on her. "Who...who're you? Y'look...familiar...

"...!"

Alma froze, indecision gripping her heart in an icey vise. All her anger, all her hate, all her power...it just...vanished when she looked into those soulful, blue eyes. She felt small. Tiny. Naked. She didn't know what to do at all. What to _say._ No. Not now! No! Not yet! _No!_ No no no nooooooo! She wasn't ready! Didn't know what to do! This wasn't one of the dreams, where she could confront him without fear. Here, in the real world, Alma felt more vulnerable than she'd evern been. A thousand different emotions clamored at her little breast, preventing her from doing anything other than fidgeting restlessly in place

So, instead, she stood very still and did not move, did not blink, did not even _breathe_, hoping beyond hope the boy would go back to sleep and forget about her. He did not.

A sleepy smile pulled at his whiskered cheeks. "You're real." he muttered to himself, looking at her through half-lidded eyes. "Yer really...real." Alma felt her face begin to burn uncomfortably and prayed to all the gods and goddesses of the world that the blasted boy would go back to sleep.

In time, he did.

Right, she reminded herself, trying in vain to settle the mixed cauldron of her emotions. She'd escaped from father. Slaughtered those who had so cruelly hurt her; or at the very least, wounded them so badly that they would think twice-perhaps even hesitate-before pursuing her further. They would not find her here. And if they did, she would make them pay. Thus emboldened, she crept back towards the boy's bedside to resume her silent vigil. It wasn't long before she grew tired of this, and longed to do something else.

Still she watched and she waited with all the impatience of a child who does not understand their own strength; somone who doesn't understand the responsibility that comes with incredible power. She didn't _want_ to be the one to watch, the one to wait, the one to stand aside, speaking to him only in his dreams. Something drew to this boy, this blond child who radiated such warmth, such kindess, despite being alone. He knew pain as she knew pain, had suffered as he'd suffered.

She wanted to play with him. This boy who was like her. But, more than anything else, she wanted a friend. And she was determined that she would have a friend, and more, make it well within her power. The power to bring a universe crashing down...and she was wasting it keeping herself at arms length.

In that instant, loneliness overcame her own caution.

Wordlessly, she stepped forward, peeled back the sheets and covers of the bed, then crawled in with Naruto. Cuddling against him, she was at once captivated by his warmth; that, and the fact that he didn't so much as stir when she nestled against him for comfort. It was at once captivating and enrapturing, this sensation. This silence. It was hers. Hers. So was he. She was determined never to let this boy out of her sight-focused-she knew, to kee him to herself. At any cost.

Which left young Alma at a bit of crossroads.

After two weeks she had found her way here to the boy that had first drawn hr into this world. The silver-haired one back in the lab had proven pliable. The glasses-man had told her where to go, and in turn, she spared his life. But...a place for her, here? She hadn't thought about it. Until now. Now that she felt safe and warm and secure, she wanted to hold onto this feeling. Never let it go. Snuggling closer, she dared to wrap both her arms around him, willed her eyes to close.

To sleep. A contented sigh forced itself between her lips.

For the first time in a very long time, Alma Wade slept soundly.

* * *

><p>Sarutobi Hiruzen was understandably flummoxed when Naruto was brought before him by an Anbu the next morning...<p>

...with a guest.

"And...who is this?"

"This is Alma, 'ttebayo!" Naruto beamed happily, clutching her hand tightly. "She's my friend!"

"Ah," The sandaime steepled his fingers, frowning. "I see."

One look at her told him that this was no mere child; those eerie, haunted eyes and pale skin bespoke of a life beyond meaning. Even from here he could feel the air roiling around her, those fierce orbs locked onto him like a heat-seeking jutsu, ready to obliterate him at the slightest provocation. Naruto, for the most part, seemed quite happy with his new friend, and offered no explanation as to who she was or how she had found her way to him within the village walls.

Even more confusing was the fact that no one knew or recognized this child, this girl who called herself Alma. Not a soul. Might she by a spy of some sort? The way she looked at him with those dead eyes, her shoulders tense as they discussed the possiblity of interrogating her, which, of course, meant separation from Naruto. Master ninja that he was, Hiruzen did not fail to notice the slight twitch. Ah. Was she here to sway Naruto into enemy hands, then? Did he have a handler somewhere within the village?

She was quite young to be sure, but Kumo had been known to try such trickery before...no, in good faith, he couldn't bring himself to dismiss the possibilty, paranoia or no.

He would have to separate these two, somehow. Whatever the cost. But for now...

...he would wait.

* * *

><p>"What's your favorite memory?"<p>

The question came from nowhere in the schoolyard, catching her flatfooted.

"My favorite memory," Alma said, her voice surprisingly flat despite her smile. "Would be one of the days when I wasn't tortured, stabbed, poked, and _picked apart_ to increase my power." The sheer venom in her voice momentarily took him aback.

A raucous burst of laughter behind them. The other children had overheard her. They didn't believe her. Alma had the grace to blush, but held her ground. Then the pink one spoke.

"Shut up."

"C'mon, Sakura-chan...

Alma scowled, her eyes narrowing as Naruto peeled off from her to plead with Sakura. She didn't like the pink one. No, perhaps that wasn't strong enough. She HATED the pink one.

The pink one was rude to Naruto, always pushing the smaller boy around, always ignoring him. And yet...and yet...!

HE focused on her. He pleaded for her attention, begged for her affections, when HE belonged to her. Would she take him away? No. A seed of anger, then fear began to grow in Alma's heart, twisted and knotted like a gnarled root. No. Naruto belonged to her. He was her friend. And any who dared to hurt him would pay the price. Eyes narrow, she focused her will on the green-eyed girl, bringing all that not-so-insubstantial wrath to bear upon her in a tidal wave of force.

Wait.

Alma didn't want her to suffer long; that would hurt Naruto. So it would be just enough. Alrlght, a subtle nudge here, a push there...

With a single thought, Haruno Sakura began to bleed.

It started slowly at first; she didn't even seem to be aware of the bloody trickle trickling down her nose.

At said courtyard, out of earshot, Sakura was beginning to twitch. Alma watched dispassionately, uncaring for her pain. Watched while she spasmed, and rolled her eyes to heaven in untold agony. The children cried out yet again, this time in fear, and terror, but she ignored them. Sakura's body pounded upon the floor, thumping it like an angry drum. Alma was laughing now quietly-infectiously-a small smile wreathing her face. Naruto granted her a reluctant smile at first, and then choked when he saw what she was doing. What was happening.

"What're you_-stop!"_

Alma's face was the picture of innocence.

"Stop what?"

Before he could protest further, Sakura was gone, her brain and lungs hemhoarging, body going still in the streets. In the ensuing panic parents rushed in, some shouting curses, others scooping up their children and all but spiriting them away from the sudden and unexplained spectacale. One of them, the pinkette's mother, shouted at Naruto, blaming him for the spectacle.

Alma's brow darkened. Naruto watched her in interest. She was all but quivering in rage. An angry hiss pierced the air.

"Don't-

The woman's head exploded like a ripe grape.

If there had been panic before now there was chaos. Bodies swarmed away from them as though they had the plague, children and parents alike scampering away from what they mistakenly perceived to be some sort of enemy attack. Known knew that the culprit was still standing there, the picture of naievete, silently delighting in the carnage she had wrought. Naruto couldn't find his voice. Was it really Alma who had done this? He didn't want to believe it, but after what he'd just seen...

She looked at him for a long moment, considering. Then she smiled.

"Don't worry. I'll never hurt you, Naruto." Her smile was so soul-shatteringly sweet-so searingly innocent-he felt the brick wall of his resistance crumble into dust. What came next caused those ashes to tremble, just a little. "After all, I _know_ you'd never hurt me."

The boy gulped.

"Nope. Never...

He hoped that this words would put paid to Alma's suspicions. It was too much to hope that it would stop her from plotting.

**A/N: And there we have it! NarutoxAlma! I've only seen two stories pairing these two together, but I thought to myself, what if it started from the beginning. A young Alma and a young Naruto, all of this before the F.E.A.R. games themselves. Now, I obviously didn't want to bring Naruto to Alma's world-tried that already, it just didn't work-but the thought of little Alma Wade raining down a fiery vengeance on any who dared to trifle with what she saw as hers, now...that's something I could get behind! And yes, Orochimaru is dead! Kaput! Gonzo! He won't be coming back!**

**So, in the Immortal Words of Atlas...**

**...Review, Would You Kindly? And of course, enjoy the preview! The death and horror continues! ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE WHEN PEOPLE TRY TO SEPARATE ALMA FROM NARUTO! With just a little more obsessive fluff...**

**(Preview)**

_Her voice was a feral hiss._

_"You can't have him! HE'S MINE!"_

_"Capture them alive, if you can!"_

_Alma laughed; it was a soft, bell-like sound that sent Naruto's heart racing in all the wrong-and right-ways it shouldn't have. When she spun around the gore-covered goddess was grinning ear-to-ear, pearly white teeth flashing in the forest gloom. Her dress seemed to spin as she moved, her hair trailing after in a siken curtain of black death. He tried in vain to open his mouth, to tell her to stop, but to no avail. One teenager against a small squad of fenemy shinobi shouldn't have been much of a contest._

_It wasn't. _

_She swung a hand a head went flying, the Anbu's mask clattering wetly to the floor alongside his headless corpse. When another tried to close with her, she leered and he burst into flame. Two others set turned and set upon each other, carving into one another with their blades. A fifth found himself turned inside out-his intestines spattering the streets with a sickening squelch. And Alma was still laughing. The haunting sound of those tingling tones only terrified the enemy even more. She wasn't the same little girl who would rather flee than fight; she was fourteen years old, a terror in her on right, and she took orders from no one._

_"Isn't this fun, Naruto?!" she called, skirting past him just long enough to lay a bloody kiss on his cheek. Before he could react she was gone again, a telekinetic shove imapling another ROOT nin upon his own blade. He gurgled wetly; just before the katana bifurcated him, sending the tapered halves flopping wetly to the floor._

_Then she turned an eye on the last ROOT shinobi, and still smiling, still laughing, waved her hand._

_"Goodbye!"_

**R&R! =D**


	3. My Black Rose

**A/N: Alright! After being pestered for so long I've finally dug my claws into this idea, into F.E.A.R. Blowing my way through all three games, the latter of which I've nearly finished. Now y'see, I didn't know where or when to place it at first, didn't want to alter too much. But then it hit me. What does it have no short of? Terror! Raw fear itself, if you excuse the pun. The game scared the living crap out of me and that is no mean feat!**

** Almost anything can happen in this game ya know? Now, screwing a****round with canon is one thing. But messing with it as a whole...well, I'm rather new to the whole F.E.A.R. thing, but I do have some experience in what I'm doing here.**

**So...fair warning! The genre is Romance/Horror and the rating is M for Mature, and follows Naruto and Alma throughout their lives! Now remember folks, this is ALMA we're talking about here. She ain't all that nice. THERE WILL BE BUCKETS OF BLOOD AND CHARACTER DEATH! If you don't like that, leave. Disclaimer over. Now for those of you who are still here...**

**...BRACE THYSELVES! And to clarify, Alma is alive. She hasn't suffered her first death yet. Still, she's terrifying powerful, and terribly cute when she wants to be, as you're all about to see. Naruto is not sum gary-stuish character either who relies solely on Alma. He'll bcame a badass in his own right, though his morals may be a wee bit gray thanks to her. Oh, and for those of you who thought she was brutal last chapter, well...**

**...this time she's a bit more subtle, but no less insidious. Fear Alma, I say! FEAR! HER! Also, I found that the soundtrack music by the masterful Adrian von Ziegler's album, Requiem was quite suited for this. In order that would be these tracks: Fatal Lullaby, Death Dance, Your Dying Heart, Requiem for the Nameless Dead, Darkness Beloved and My Black Rose. They're all very eerie tracks, and was quite inspiring for writing this fic! Feel free to Check them out on Itunes!**

**There's a bit of fluff in this chapter! And of course, sweet, blood insanity...**

**...and a first for both Naruto and Alma! What is it, you ask? Read on and see!**

_"Of course I love you, Naruto. You're my best friend...don't you love me, too? Don't you want to stay together, like this? Forever?"_

_~?_

**My Black Rose**

The second time Sarutobi Hiruzen met Alma Wade, it was under...less than pleasant circumstances.

A migraine was already building at the back of his brain as he contemplated her, pounding at his temples like the drums of a great hunt; one out for his blood. Blood. The irony of his thoughts drew a small, rueful sigh from his lips. Why was it ironic, you ask? A question-one of the many-easily answered. Contrary to their first meeting the children were quite sober-unsmiling, refusing to speak so much as a word. But that wasn't the worst of it all, not by far.

_Because Alma Wade was covered in blood._

So was Naruto by proxy, but from the vacant, distant look in the boy's eyes made him wonder if he'd become dettached from it, somehow. Not so for little Alma. Gore dripped from her feet, her hands, her dress, there was even a touch of it spattering her cheek. She didn't seem to notice the mess she was making in his office. Not a bit. Kami, he couldn't even try to look at her, such was the racket within his skull. As if her very aura, her prescence, only made things worse.

Within good reason!

If she was even aware of the consternation she was causing, she certainly didn't seem to care; because her hand was clenched tightly within Naruto's; as though she were afraid he would bolt the moment she let go. He was inclined to let her have her way, for now, having read the report. Damning didn't even begin to describe it. Three deaths! Murders! Three! All committed by this little girl! Without so much as batting an eyelash!

Apparently the Anbu were-grizzled men and women who'd seen hell countless times over!-were too afraid to clean her up after what she'd done to them. Seemed someone was foolish enough to attempt to separate the two children after the incident. Perhaps in an attempt to interrogate them, or, at the very least, get them away from the angry mob...

...and, by eyewitness accounts, Alma had torn him inside out. His squad insisted that the little girl just _looked at him, _whispered something, and then his innards were spattered all over the street. No child should know such an ability, and yet she clearly did. It was madness, pure and sheer madness. There could be no other word for it.

So now, when the two children were brought before him onlly hours after their first meeting, it was without the customary guards. But how to begin? Alma was watching him like a hawk would a mouse; waiting for that first fatal missstep that would signal dinner. That strange, eerie miasma he'd sensed from before was back en masse; it felt ready to pounce upon him if he uttered a wrong word. Despite the supposedly significant gap between their age and skill levels, he could not help but shiver under the girl's silent stare.

Just who-what?!-was this child?

Steeling himself regardless of the fact, the old kage drew in a deep breath and started to speak.

"So," he began tersely, "I understand there was an...incident, this morning. Several, in fact."

Neither of the children spoke to him.

"Three people are dead," his voice plowed on, "and everyone is demanding answers. I take it you have them?" He ached to ask such questions of a pair of children, but to let this matter fade into obscurity was no longer a possibility; not after what Alma had done to the Anbu. There were already whispers, rumors, that she was the Kyuubi given human form...luridly false, of course, yet if they spread-no. Best to quell it now before there were still more deaths, or worse.

To ignore it would be tantamount to disaster. If Naruto wouldn't admit it, then...

"Alma? You look like you have something to say."

The ebon-haired lass frowned, her amber eyes sweeping back towards Naruto for another look. As though she were actually waiting for his permission. But that didn't make any sense. Wait. Something dawned inside of him, a thought he hadn't considered before. She only seemed to kill in self defense of herself. Herself, and Naruto. Each time the victim had either said something harsh to them, or, in the Anbu's case, tried to separate them. Every. Time. Was it really so simple...? Was Alma really killing simply to keep the boy safe? If that were the case...

"Alma?" he pressed, waiting for her answers. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Naruto's hand twitch, giving her palm a gentle squeeze. Whatever it was, it was enough to spur the girl to speak.

"The pink one hurt him." was the reply, that flat tone barely shifting. "So did the mother. Always hurting him, always making him feel small, worthless, useless...

"And the Anbu?"

"Always hurting him." she repeated crossly. "Always." A flicker of emotion flashing across her pale visage; the air growing dark around her. "Supposed to guard him. Doesn't. _Hurts!"_ Her voice seemed to lose coherency as she spoke; the darkness shifting, her face turning ghastly. "No hurting! Never again! _**NEVER!"**_ Something in her voice gave him pause just then-as did the levitating desk before him. Wait, everything in the room! It shouldn't be possible, but it was!

Steeling himself anew, he struggled to reign her in:

"Nevertheless, that did not give you the right to take their lives."

"Neh, old man, can't you ust let it go?" Naruto asked, sounding sad and sullen. "Alma was just trying to-

"Naruto, this is…unacceptable!" Sarutobi sputtered, feeling the situation slipping through his fingers like red, watery death. "Whether you admit it, or not, she killed! Without provocation! And I cannot help but think that _you _were the cause of it! _Three murders _does _not_ a shinobi make! I have half a mind to throw this "friend" of yours in a cell for questioning!"

"No...

Naruto stiffened, a spark of life returning to his eyes, followed by... panic? Hiruzen frowned, struggling to grasp this. Why would he be afraid? His eyes cut back to Alma. What he saw there cemented his suspcisions that shew was not, in fact, a normal girl.

_"Nooo..._

Alma frowned, her brow furrowing, narrowing in what looked like genuine horror. The levitating objects shot upright, smashing into the ceiling with a dull _crunch_ of noise and, sending shards of broken wood and plaster fluttering down to the floor. She let go of Naruto's palm and took her head between her hands with a quiet cry, as though she'd been struck. Her head shook slowly from side to side, mouth moving wordlessly as began mumbling hoarsely to herself. Lights flickered in the mid-afternoon. The room itself began to shake, as though a giant hand had taken hold of it. Against his better judgement, he decided to put an end to it.

"Guards!" he shouted.

The moment the Anbu entered the room, the situation exploded. Violently.

"Nooooooo!"

"Oi, Alma! It's okay! Calm down!" Naruto called as he edged backward, regarding her as though she were a snake about to pounce. Perhaps she was. "Ow!" He cried out as an end-table flew up and struck him the face, sending the poor boy sprawling. Still Sarutobi stared, transfixed by the girl's mighty breakdown. Her voice was rising now, a small, threaded cry laced with panic, a warbling note of pure pain:

_"No...no...nonononononono...I don't want to leave Naruto...don't want to hurt him..but...but...he's going to take me away again...lock me up...just like Daddy...I hate Daddy...hate him...hate him so much..._

"Sir?" One of the Anbu asked, glancing. "What should we do?"

Sarutobi sighed. It pained him to do this, but the girl was clearly not well. If she influenced Naruto...yes, this was for the best.

"Take her away."

Alma's shriek was one of pure fear, raw, edged terror, brimming with malice.

**_"I HATE HIM!"_**

Across the room, one of the windows shattered. The old kage glanced at it-

_Alma appeared before him, which caused him fall backwards in fright, tumbling from his chair. The Anbu he'd summoned lay in a bloody pool at his feet, gasping out their last moments of life. Naruto was nowhere to be see. When... had she...? Even as his mind struggled to accept this, as he scrambled upright, she was moving. But instead of attacking she simply skipped happily around him in a circle, red dress flutttering. She asked him, quite nicely, "Do you like to play games, mister?"_

_"Games?" That elicited a frown. "Now is not the time for ga-_

_He never finished that sentence._

_A tendril of darkness shot upward from seemingly nowhere stabbing him point blank in the head. Right betwen the eyes. Brain matter sprayed out of the exit wound as the corpse-his corpse!-fell backwards onto ground with a wet, gurgling sound. Alma stopped and sighed with a shake of the head, bleak tresses swaying too and fro from the motion. She stared down at him with mock sadness, that pity evaporating like so much steam as he looked on, morphing into a cruel scowl._

_"If you try to take me away from him again, I'll play with you for real."_

Hiruzen blinked.

As though he'd just risen from a waking dream the old man shook his head, struggling to understand what had just happened. Nothing. Nothing at all. The Anbu were still standing there-Naruto was still on the floor-an Alma was still staring bloody red daggers at him but now, _now_ the ghost of a smile wreathed her pale face. Slowly-painstakingly-she turned toward Naruto, helping him back up. Apologies were murmurred, forgiveness granted. Yet her eyes never left his. Watching, staring, glaring...

_Do you want to play?_

Something broke inside of the Sandaime Hokage then, his headache intensifying as he stared into those deep, soulless eyes. Claws at his throat, maggots in his mouth...!

No more words were uttered between the two of them, still, in that moment, he realized this little girl held his life in her hands and would cast it aside in an instant if she saw fit. He wanted to tell the guards to take her in, to lock this strange creature away where she could do him no harm. He'd seen all manner of horrors on the battlefield-and in Orochimaru before his betrayal-but this made them look like pale ghost by comparison-a series of shades when faced with this dark terror, standing before him.

He...he couldn't do it.

Everything inside of him quailed at the vision; his own demise laid out before him in excruciating detail. "I've...changed my mind." Bitingly, he told the Anbu to stand down, dismissing the disbelieving men, much to the latter's disbelief. Naruto seemed to be of the same accord.

"You're...letting us go, jiji?"

With all his effort, Sarutobi forced a smile.

"Yes...well...see that it doesn't happen again. You're excused from class for the week until this...incident is handled." his fingers steepled, mind whirring as he sought out a way to save face. He couldn't simply reverse a declaration like the one he'd just made, not without some precedent. Anything else would make him look weak and now, in this tenuous time, still so soon after the war, that was the last thing he could afford. If only he could find a way...!

"Might I make a suggestion, Hiruzen?"

At that very moment, the door decided to open from outside. An old, bandanged figure hobbled in, leaning heavily upon a cane. A lone eye regarded him keenly, like a hawk waiting to swoop down on unsuspecting prey at just the right moment. That's right. This man was a hawk. Always listening, always spying, always eager to take advantage of an opportunity. Sarutobi felt his lips purse into a thin line at that thought, reflecting that same, smug expression his old rival wore.

"Danzou." he frowned at the man, struggling to be civil. "I don't recall summoning you...?"

"I heard a commotion and came to investigate." came the glib reply. Then he saw Alma, and that old scarred, wrinkled face crinkled into a smile. "Ah, so this must the girl who caused such a fuss earlier this morning." A small frown marred Alma's face; Hiruzen noted with some satisfaction that she was eyeing him just as sharply as she had him. Perhaps even moreso. Still, a fuss?! Three lives lost was not a fuss! He was about to say as much when his former teammate cut in.

"Although, if we need to make a decision, I might well have a use for her." Withdrawing a hand from his sleeve he revealed a rolled piece of parchment. A scroll. "I thought something like this might happen in the future someday, although I hadn't accounted for our little friend here. I'm sure you'll find it most satsifactory. We can include the girl as well." Sarutobi gave it a glance, feeling his insides go cold.

"This is..."

Was he seriously considering this? Truly? Alma was terrifying enough, confined to the village. If she was let loose -set loose!- on their enemies...no, that way lay paranoia and fear. If she was at least serving the village in some capacity, something to chain her to Naruto, to keep her from running rampant. If that could be accomplished...could not more lives be saved than those that would be lost? It was for the best, in any case. Any prospect of Naruto leading even a remotely normal life had been vanquished the moment Alma came into his life.

Honestly, he just felt sorry for him, now.

Laid out before him, on his desk, was an application for Naruto to become an _Anbu._ On paper it made virtually no sense; he was only eight years old. He had virtually no skills to speak of-or did he?!-and the true terror in the room was Alma. She, likely as not, would only listen to him. No one else. Perhaps that was why Danzou was so desperate to include her in this. He'd heard the commotion and now seeing it firsthand, realized the attempt to separate Alma from him would only end in disaster. Of course Naruto would still attend classes, and then there was the matter of the curriculum, the personal instruction he'd be receiving...

"Very well." he decided at last, the words tasting like poison-ash-in his mouth. "I'll see to it that he gets the training. Naruto-kun?"

"Hai?"

"You should thank-ha!-Danzou-san. He's just ensured you a promising career as a shinobi."

"Really?!" Naruto gushed! "That's awesome, 'ttebayo!" Poor boy. He had no idea the depth of the agreement...

"I'm glad we could come to an agreement." No sooner had he gotten what he wanted than Danzo disappeared, trudging back the whence he came. Sarutobi fought off the sudden urge to spit at the man's back. He was doing what he felt was best for Konoha, after all. Even so...

"Right, right, I'll talk to you soon, Naruto-kun." it was all he could do to shoo them out the door-to not look at Alma!-and lock it before his stomach gave out. _Urrk!_ His breakfast emerged in a lurid grey puddle on the floor, the entirety of his body convulsing for a brief, painful eternity until he regained control of himself once more. The next few minutes that followed -as he diligently cleaned himself and tidied the room- were quite possibly the most unpleasant and humbling of his life.

Alma Wade, huh?

By the gods...

...what _was_ she?

* * *

><p>"Don't be afraid."<p>

Naruto started slightly as Alma's voice ghosted into his ear, the sudden sound nearly causing him to jump outright. They'd walked quietly from the Hokage's office through the streets and then the market, neither willing to speak as their feet carried them deeper and deeper into the village. The occasional glance had been stolen but nothng spoken. Until now-_now,_ as they stood in the shade of the training grounds, beneath the autuumn hearth of a fading tree, the leaves falling quietly in the breeze.

"Huh?"

"I don't want you to be afraid." she pleaded, gazing mournfully up at him within the shadows as she held tight to his hand. _"Please,"_ her eyes glimmered wetly, brimming with unshed tears. "Didn't mean to hurt you." her hand rose tentatively to stroke his bruised chin, her words falling apart even as she hastened to explain. "Don't want you to hate. Please forgive. _Pleeeaaase."_ Naruto felt his heart lurch inside his ribs, his resolve crumbling like a wet paper bag before those pleading eyes. In that instant, Alma Wade wasn't a terrifying goddess of death-doom-or even pure destruction.

She was just a little girl, desperately wanting a friend.

"I'm not afraid." he muttered, looking away. "Its just...you're kinda weird, Alma-chan."

Her little lips puckered in a petulant pout. "Am not!"

Naruto snickered. "Are too."

"Not!"

"Too!"

"Not!"

_"Too!"_

_"Not!"_

"Why?!" he griped.

_"Because I like you!"_

_"Yeah, well maybe I like you, too, dattebayo!"_

With that, Uzumaki Naruto felt the last brick in the wall of his resistance crumble. Almost before he knew what was happening, he'd grabbed her and given her a hug. Alma's startled gasp confirmed his suspicions; this was no act, just a genuine plea for affection. For love. When she returned the embrace, the boy felt his ribs creak. Bend. Crack. _Break!_

"Ow. Ow. Owowowowow! Ribs! Alma, you're breaking my _ribs!"_

True enough she jerked back, smiling happily. "You like me." it was a whisper, naked and soft. Then her smile becam a great grin and she burst out laughing, the bell-like peals of her delight swelling in his ears to fill up the empty training grounds. "You like me!" She broke away from him and did a little dance, skipping about.

Naruto colored, averting his eyes. "Yeah, well, you m-made me say it, baka...

"Naruto..." The look she gave him was one of pure and utter besottment. He should've realized it in that instant, but young as he was, he didn't understand the rammifications; Alma Wade was truly and utterly smitten with him. Any possibility of her leaving his side-however briefly-had been dashed to nothingness on the sharp stones of his words.

It was as if there were two sides to her. One, an insane, murderous child who'd kill someone the moment they spoke ill of her or him, and the other; a little girl who very very VERY much wanted his attention and all the affection he had to give, no matter the cost. One coin, two sides. Light and dark. Opposites. Or were they both her? Gah, all this thinking gave him a headache! The boy shook himself mightily, strugglling to make sense of it all-

As such, he was completely unprepared when Alma spun back to him and touched a hand to his face. "Here." she said. "I want to...give you something."

Pain sank its fangs into him!

Naruto bent double with a hiss, crying out as a lance of agony stabbed into his brain. Then his eyes. His face. His every cell felt as though it were afire, scintilating sparks of whitehot agony shooting up and down across his spine into his bones, his muscles, and his very soul. All the world burned a terrifying shade of red, his body threatening to tear itself apart. Throughout it all Alma was there with him, her hand never once leaving his, even as strange sights and sounds-visions?-attacked him from all sides, bombarding him with words he didn't understand-

And then it was over.

On his hands and knees, drenched in sweat, gasping for breath, Naruto somehow managed to move. Raise his gaze. Every muscle in his body threatened to clamp down and render him paralyzed but he stubbornly beat it back until he could look at her. Alma. He saw himself reflected in her eyes, his blue orbs burning eerily bright, as though lit from within. She was smiling.

"Wha...What did you do?" he gasped.

Alma crouched down, tilted her head and smiled softly. Sadly. "I made you like me. Stronger."

He caught sight of himself in a nearby puddle, and his eyes bulged. His eyes. They were...like hers. Eeerie. Not quite orange, but neither were they yellow, either. Amber. The color of molten honey. Beyond that, he was relatively unchanged...on the outside. But within...within was different. Inside, he could still hear the fox, but its cries were muted now, as though someone had muzzled it. Ha, that thought made him smile. But then he felt the anxiety again, the nervousness of not knowing what had been done to him.

"...does that mean?" Naruto tried to ask, the words ended in a wet cough as he clamored to his feet. She took his hand, squeezed, and flashed away. When he saw her again, she was clutching something in her hand, a tiny thing, something he couldn't see-

_"Watch." _she said._ "Focus."_

Then she threw the rock at him. And time itself seemed to slow.

Where once the pebble had shot forward at blinding speed it now seemed to be crawling through tar, scooting forward in mere increments, a centimeter at a time. He stood there for a long moment, marveling at it. His hand reached out, poked it, and he saw it shift, moving to the right, harmlessly past him. A blink-

Time moved again. So too, did another pebble.

Naruto's arm snapped up almost without thought, caught the rock, and flung it back at her without thinking. Alma laughed at him then raised a hand, a soft telekinetic shove sending it shooting back at him, faster than before. He yelped and made to swat it back away but his hand crushed around it instead, reducing the small stone to powder in his hand. When he looked up, a hail of those very same stones were headed his way. One by one he grabbed them, crushed them, evaded them, his body moving on pure, perfect reflex. Instinct.

_Reflexes._

When the strange sensate finally faded he was left feeling oddly refreshed, as though he'd just woken from a long nap. Alma was beaming at him, clearly pleased. Naruto felt a slow, satisified smile dawn.

"Whoa. What else can you do?"

Alma grinned, and for anyone else, that smile would've meant death.

"All sorts of things. Do you want to play?"

Ruthlessly supressing a tingle of dread, he smiled and said, "Sure."

Her smile was purer than sunshine.

"Yay!"

_'She's ruining you. Tainting you. Stop. Don't let her. Stop this, right now! Sto-'_ His rational mind offered one last feeble protest before he pushed it aside. He didn't care.

Every moment spent near her corrupted him, stripping away his naievete, scooping out his innocence and filling him with something else. He wanted-needed!-to be near her. Her prescence was like a drug, heady, warm and intoxicating. Already the shock of Sakura's death had all but begun to fade, replaced by icey, numbing calm. A small part of him gibbered madly at the insanity of it all, of what he'd seen, what she had _done_-but the other, larger part of his soul, that secret, defiled darkness deep inside that he seldom indulged, marveled at her.

And yet...

He wasn't afraid of her. He should be-definitely!-but whenever he tried to think about it logically he kept seeing her teary face, her hand desperately clutching against his. Her...crying. She was ruining him, tainting him with every second spent together and some part of him _knew _this; he couldn't bring himself to leave her.

"Naruto, hurry!"

"Alright, alright, I'm coming...

She looked at him for a moment and then winked before dissolving into a cloud of ash as her giggling filled his mind briefly. He continued onward, following her deeper into the training grounds.

"Let's play."

And the years flowed like wind.

* * *

><p>They received their very first mission nearly a week before graduation.<p>

The task, Danzou assured them, was simple. Eradicate a group of Kumogakure spies lurking on the border. Simple enough, right? Wrong. He'd neglected to mention their numbers, their skills, nor the fact that this was no spy ring. Rather, they found themselves facing an elite task force with one purpose; to capture someone. Several someones. Them. And they were prepared. Naruto didn't realize it until the first net caught him-in a blink of the eye he was ripped from his perch overlooking the campsite by the net and sent sprawling at their feet.

He was suddenly intensely grateful he'd abandoned his old orange gear; because they didn't recognize him. Not straight away, at least. He'd discarded the old garb in favor of dark pants, a blood-red shirt coupled with a flak jacket and hood; though he had yet to be considered an actual shinobi, the obscuring clothes kept his identity concealed just enough to cause some confusion amongst his would-be tormentors.

"Well, well, well," A rough voice drawled, nudging. "What do we have here? A stray or-_!"_

Whatever else he might've said dissolved into an endless, animal bleat as something grabbed him from behind and tore him into pieces. Alma was suddenly there, her expression twisted into a demonic rictus of pure, unadulterated hate. She ripped him free from the barbed net with a thought.

...alright?"

Naruto felt a hot, embarassed flush build at the back of his neck. "Yeah...thanks. You're a lifesaver." Sadly, the moment didn't last.

"Shit! It _is _them!. That little death god and his bitch!"

He thought he actually heard her hiss.

"You can't have him! HE'S MINE!"

"Capture them alive, if you can!"

Alma laughed; it was a soft, bell-like sound that sent Naruto's heart racing in all the wrong-and right-ways it shouldn't have. When she spun around the gore-covered goddess was grinning ear-to-ear, pearly white teeth flashing in the forest gloom. Her dress seemed to spin as she moved, her hair trailing after in a siken curtain of black death. He almost wanted to tell them they had no chance, that they'd be better off surrending but to no avail. Two teenagers against several squads of enemy shinobi shouldn't have been much of a contest.

It wasn't.

Alma laughed, and they died.

She swung a hand a head went flying, the mand's head clattering wetly to the floor alongside his headless corpse. When another tried to close with her, she leered and he burst into flame. Two others set turned and set upon each other, carving into one another with their blades. A fifth found himself turned inside out-his intestines spattering the streets with a sickening squelch. And Alma was still laughing. The haunting sound of those tingling tones only terrified the enemy even more. She wasn't the same little girl who would rather flee than fight; she was fourteen years old, a terror in her on right, and she took orders from no one.

Naruto wasn't idle either; he weaved amidst them with ease, delivering savage cuts to unprotected flank, hamstringing others.

Alma delighted in it.

"Isn't this fun, Naruto?!" she called, skirting past him just long enough to lay a bloody kiss on his cheek. Before he could react she was gone again, a telekinetic shove imapling another Kumo nin upon his own blade. He gurgled wetly; just before the katana bifurcated him, sending the tapered halves flopping wetly to the campground.

Laughing she turned an eye on the last kumo shinobi, and still smiling, still laughing, waved her hand. Then her eyes grew large. A warning started on her lips.

"NA-

"Goodbye!"

The words didn't come from her, but from behind Naruto himself. He felt a blade bite into his back, the hilt smashing into his cheek, and then the rage came. His rage. Alma's rage. Roaring in furies and pain, he riposted sharply, parrying the next strike and impaling the man on his arm in the next instant. His own strength surprised him; he blow went clean through, eviscerating the man's spine, the column of boe protruding wetly from his back. He hung there for a moment, paralyzed, gurgling wetly. Naruto scowled, his hand slowly forming a fist, uncaring as the slaughter continued around them.

A thought hoisted the man up, gripped him from within as tightly as he could, and then pulling, pulling, twisting-

"Get! Off!"

Blew him into little bloody pieces. The shriek that followed belonged to two; the man he'd killed...

...and a very, very, VERY angry teenager.

_...hurt."_

He risked a glance behind him and saw an enraged Alma stalking towards the last of the Kumo kidnappers, now fixated solely upon the angry goddess. He'd never seen her so angry before. Her normally emotionless expression was replaced by a contorted demonic scowl. It was frightening to see her like that to say the least. _Craaaaaack!_ A sharp crunch of a nearby tree demanded his attention; he turned back just in time to see that she had lifted the massive oak, roots and all, free from the ground. Still, the words continued

_you...hurt him...hurt...Naruto...my Naruto..._

As if it weighed nothing, it flew backwards, somersaulted, and smashed three men flat, rendering them little more than gory smears on the ground. She walked past him towards the overturned oak. As she did, the negative energy radiating off her made him feel incredibly cold.

_...hate you...kill you...I...will..._

As she came to a stop before the overturned tree, the survivors dared to cast Raiton jutsu at her. Alma batted the bolts aside without so much as a second glance and grabbed them with a jerk of her head; he swore he heard her snarl at them as they levitated into the air. Their pleas fell on deaf ears. She threw them into the campfire, burned them, scorched them, raised them into the air again-

_**"KILL YOU ALL!"**_

The forest was suddenly filled with the sounds of snapping bones and squishing flesh as she used her mind to toss them about the savaged camspite like rag-dolls. They stopped screaming after the third impact on one of the trees. She just kept hurling them into the ground, the trees, and anything that she thought would tear them apart. When they were nothing more but greasy stains on the ground, she kepot walking, straight into the center of what had once been the enemy camp. Chunks of earth and soil, the bodies of the slain shinobi, and anything loose started circling her with increasing velocity.

Finally, just as he could no longer see her behind the circling debris, she screamed. The sound was so loud that he momentarily lost his hearing. The debris flew straight up into the air and disappeared into the night sky. The sky itself seemed to rip apart as huge red gashes opened up. Blood red clouds emerged from the gashes and just as he thought he'd regained some semblance of hearing, Alma shrieked another deafening scream of rage. This time, a massive pulse of psychic energy overtook the campsite in the form of a red tinted shock-wave. It overtook him in an instant.

...and then there was nothing more than blood. Visions assailed him, an unintentional pyschic assault of pure pain and grief, rising, swelling, beating at his brain until-

With a gasp, Naruto collapsed onto his back. He stared into the hellish clouds as the blood rained down on his motionless form, a gross perversion of rains. There was nothing left of the camp, nothing of the forest, not even a trace of life beyond him, human, animal or otherwise. She had destroyed it all. Everyone. Everywhere.

_Everything._

"Naruto!" Alma appeared beside him and knelt down. She reached out and gently touched the sides of his bloodied and bruised face. _Ouch!_ Naruto winced in pain and she retracted. Blood covered her from head to toe rolling off her and onto his face as if she was crying. Wait. He realized with a small pang of cold shock that she actually _was_ crying as she studied his beaten body. Trembling hands ghosted over him in a panic, unsure of what to do, what to tend first.

She finally choked out, "Naruto...I'm sorry. All my fault. Please, don't hate me. I...I can fix you. Just let me..."

He coughed, his voice finally returning. "Hey, it's alright. I'm fine. Just...

She reached down again but this time, his body moved of its own accord. Gently, slowly, he reached up and pulled her down on top of him. Her thin smooth legs straddled his waist and she caught herself by placing her hands on a shattered tree on either side of his head, her expression tentative. Her nose was touching his, brushing now, their lips were only inches apart. Naruto shifted, suddenly aware of his monumental blunder.

"Alma...

She had gone very still; it elt as though he were holding a statue. She didn't tell him that she'd drawn him into her own world; that they were safe here, for the time being; because the words wouldn't come. Her throat felt intensely dry and she gulped, sensitive to the slightest touch.

As they stared into each other's eyes in intimate proximity, their racing thoughts flowed back and forth through their bond. They all arrived at the same idea. The same, inevitable conclusion. Six years-close to a decade really-flashed before them in an instant. And then Alma moved.

Soft.

That was his very first thought as her mouth covered his. Alma was...soft. Dimly he was aware of his hands trailing through her bloody hair, drawing her closer. Her arms encircled his neck in an iron band-scooting close to hi, then closer still.

It was there, as a bloody sea rained down onto them and absolutely drenched their bodies, that they first truly kissed each other. It was not out of lust or curiosity or even the event that they had just survived. It was a mutual showing of affection that filled them both with warmth.

It was their first kiss.

And it was the beginning of the end for an entire universe.

**A/N: And there we have it! NarutoxAlma! I've only seen two stories pairing these two together, but I thought to myself, what if it started from the beginning. A young Alma and a young Naruto, all of this before the F.E.A.R. games themselves. Now, I obviously didn't want to bring Naruto to Alma's world-tried that already, it just didn't work-but the thought of little Alma Wade raining down a fiery vengeance on any who dared to trifle with what she saw as hers, now...that's something I could get behind! And yes, Orochimaru is dead! Kaput! Gonzo! He won't be coming back!**

**So, in the Immortal Words of Atlas...**

**...Review, Would You Kindly? And of course, enjoy the preview! The death and horror continues! ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE WHEN PEOPLE TRY TO SEPARATE ALMA FROM NARUTO! With just a little more obsessive fluff...A reviewer wrote this, and I found it amusing enough to add. Make of it what you will! Pairing remains NarutoxAlma! And the second preview hints at dark times to come...**

**(Preview)**

_"Odd."_

_"Um...is there something on my face, Alma-san?"_

_The goddess gave the Hyuuga a stern look, senting her into stammering silence as they waited. Odd. Yes, very odd indeed._

_Alma found herself slightly shocked, to find another like her and Naruto. She simply hadn't paid attention befre. Until now. She was even more surprised how much this pale-eyed girl's lot echoed her own. A father that ruthlessly attempted to sculpt her into what he believed she should. Bruises and blood, inside and out as she was struck beneath her skin in an attempt to force her to comply. Even beneath that thick jacket, she could see them clear as day, here in the training field. A sister who was abused._

_A sister that took all the pain, a sister received all the praise, while she was left in the dirt._

_True the sisters cared for each other, but it would be a little too shocking if the similarity was exact. This girl watched them, she felt her eyes on Naruto, and also on herself. Felt the longing within them, to stand beside Naruto, to have the strength Alma so easily showed in the face of those that would hurt her._

_Alma mused on this, could she ever bring herself to shae Naruto, even with someone so like herself? What about when they grew older? She wanted something special with Naruto, could she let this relative newcomer in? She was nothing like the pink one from before. She was quieter for one. _

_If she were to join them, Alma was confident she could rein her in from being too forward with Naruto. Although...her thoughts drifted back to one of her psychic jaunts. She remembered following a silver-haired man, remembered him reading a peculiar orange book, that book had been responsible for stirring some of her feelings towards Naruto, but now that she thought about it, she remembered the scene on the page. _

_A man and a woman, locked in an embrace that still brought a blush to her face. But there had been a second woman, hugging the man from behind, looking over his shoulder at the first woman with an intense gaze and a smile on her face. There was an interesting thought, that when she had her Naruto, she could also have a way to see what he made her feel, through the form of another. As her mind spun with possibilities and the blush rose to atomic levels, Alma released a giggle that she instantly realized echoed the silver-haired man's._

_'Oh, my...'_

_"Alma?"_

_Blinking herself out her stupor, she glanced at Naruto and feigned a smile, secretly trying to imagine it. She liked the way his lips felt on hers. No. Perhaps like was too tame of a word. She'd loved it. She wanted to feel it again, to taste it, him, devour him...and she wasn't willing to share that with someone. Not yet. Perhaps not ever. A wave of jealousy crested over her. Teammate or not..._

_No. _

_She shook her head, suppressing it, suddeny feeling possessive. Naruto was hers. No one else could have him._

_NO ONE._

* * *

><p><em>Harlann cackled.<em>

_Soon now. The preparations were nearly complete. Years of careful experimentation, and he was confident he'd found a way to tear open the portal again. Some called him crazy. Others mad. But were not all the great minds of this century called madmen before they proved themselves? And he would prove himself. Splicing himself with Alma's DNA had been a risky venture-he still saw things sometimes, but the power, oh, the sweet glorious power that came with it! He felt like a god!_

_And like a god, he would rule._

_He glanced back at the Replica soldiers, mindless grunts, mere empty shells who would obey his every command._

_Soon._

**R&R! =D**


	4. Desire

**A/N: Alright! After being pestered for so long I've finally dug my claws into this idea, into F.E.A.R. Blowing my way through all three games, the latter of which I've nearly finished. Now y'see, I didn't know where or when to place it at first, didn't want to alter too much. But then it hit me. What does it have no short of? Terror! Raw fear itself, if you excuse the pun. The game scared the living crap out of me and that is no mean feat!**

** Almost anything can happen in this game ya know? Now, screwing a****round with canon is one thing. But messing with it as a whole...well, I'm rather new to the whole F.E.A.R. thing, but I do have some experience in what I'm doing here.**

**So...fair warning! The genre is Romance/Horror and the rating is M for Mature, and follows Naruto and Alma throughout their lives! Now remember folks, this is ALMA we're talking about here. She ain't all that nice. THERE WILL BE BUCKETS OF BLOOD AND CHARACTER DEATH! If you don't like that, leave. Disclaimer over. Now for those of you who are still here...**

**...BRACE THYSELVES! And to clarify, Alma is alive. She hasn't suffered her first death yet. Still, she's terrifying powerful, and terribly cute when she wants to be, as you're all about to see. Naruto is not sum gary-stuish character either who relies solely on Alma. He'll become a badass in his own right, though his morals may be a wee bit gray thanks to her. Oh, and for those of you who thought she was brutal last chapter, well...**

**...this time she's a bit more subtle, but no less insidious. Fear Alma, I say! FEAR! HER! Also, I found that the soundtrack music by the masterful Adrian von Ziegler's album, Requiem was quite suited for this. In order that would be these tracks: Fatal Lullaby, Death Dance, Your Dying Heart, Requiem for the Nameless Dead, Darkness Beloved and My Black Rose. They're all very eerie tracks, and was quite inspiring for writing this fic! Feel free to Check them out on Itunes!**

**There's a bit more fluff in this chapter! And of course, sweet, blood insanity as Alma corrupts those around her..**

**...AND A LOOOOOT of gore in this one! What is it, you ask? Read on and see! Yeah, to those who thought Danzo was going to a problem, well. One last warning INTIMACY in this chapter, and M-rated stuff! You have been warned!**

_"I am death. I am darkness. And no one will take my Light."_

_~Alma Wade._

**Want**

_Harlan Wade was positively giddy._

Soon now. The preparations were nearly complete. Years of careful experimentation, and he was confident he'd found a way to tear open the portal again. Some called him crazy. Others mad. But were not all the great minds of this century called madmen before they proved themselves? And he would prove himself. Splicing himself with Alma's DNA had been a risky venture-he still saw things sometimes, but the power, oh, the sweet glorious power that came with it! He felt like a god!

And like a god, he would rule.

He glanced back at the Replica soldiers, mindless grunts, mere empty shells who would obey his every command. Part of him longed to act now, to take command and-no. Not yet. The time was not ripe. But soon it would be.

Soon.

_Not even Alma would be able to stop him..._

* * *

><p>"<em>Achoo<em>!"

Alma sneezed softly, blinking in the dark as she scrubbed at her nose. Odd Very odd.. Someone must be talking about her. Frowning, she settled back into her seat in the black, resolved to wait for her victim. He would come to her soon enough...eventually.

Once, she would've lost her temper and simply sought out her target. She would've found him, ripped him limb from limb and been done with it. Once, she would've let that impatience stop her. Now?

Now almost nothing could stop Alma Wade.

When she wanted something she took it. When she needed someone dead-she killed them. When she required someone to help her achieve her wicked little goals, she used whatever-or whomever-was available. It was simple as that. Be it through trickery or deceit, intimidation, or outright invading the dreams of others, she would go whatever lengths she deemed necessary. She would do anything to keep Naruto-her Light, her happiness, her sweet, precious everything-and herself, of course-safe from harm.

In a sense, she owed this word a great deal. Not just for Naruto, but for all the clever, interesting things she'd learned here. Their first mission together had taught her well, helped her to learn more of what she already knew.

She'd thought herself clever before, before she'd come to this eerie world with its strange ways.

Now, she realized just how _naive_ that little girl had been. As a child, she would've simply slaughtered anyone who came within three feet of her precious Light. She would have marched right up to Danzo Shimura and killed him the moment she saw what he intended to do to her and Naruto.

But she hadn't.

Instead she had waited, fasted, held herself back until this very moment. Until now. Until they'd returned from that mission. Until she was certain Naruto was ready.

Now, as she waited patiently in the shadows and drank her tea and for the old hawk to come home, Alma reflected on the events that had led to this pivotal moment. Naruto didn't know about this. He _couldn't_ know about it. He saw eye-to-eye with her more often than not, but he wouldn't condone blatant murder. Not yet. Because he couldn't see what she saw, didn't know the terrors Danzo was planning to visit upon them. But Alma did, and she wouldn't wait any longer for those twisted schemes to bear fruit. She had what she wanted, and all he had left to give them was pain. No more. Not on her watch.

Six years.

So many days.

Years of subtly poisoning the man's mind over time; haunting his dreams, his every waking moment, making him more and more paranoid. Slowly at first, causing him to see things that were not there, never herself, never anything that he might expect from her. Carefully. Patiently. The taint had been insidious, creeping up on him with each passing year until now, forcing him to do her will. Forcing him to postpone their missions more and more, giving her the chance to train up Naruto, teach him to do what she could do, then some.

Now he was almost fully prepared, and _now_, she no longer needed Danzo.

In another life she would've killed him immediately and gained nothing. How foolish that would've been!

You see, in the Elemental Nations, Alma Wade had learned the value o_f subtlety._ She'd killed several who tried to take Naruto from her, but, that just resulted in the boy being shunned, which made him unhappy and Alma didn't want him to be unhappy. So after she'd crippled the annoying duck butt she'd decided to spare the shadow user and the chubby one, even the dog boy with his puppy, just to see what they would do. They were afraid of her at first-terrified, really!-then they learned, so long as they didn't hurt him, they would live.

And surprise surprise, Naruto made friends. Even the puppy liked him.

Alma rather liked puppies herself. So did Naruto. Hmm. Maybe she should ask him for one...?

Ah, but there _he_ was.

She stiffened, stretching out her senses in anticipation as Danzo entered the room. A dark, predatory smile graced her pale lips. The fool. He had no idea she was there. Doubtless he was wary-he had every right to be!-but without knowing _who _rather than what had disarmed his traps, but without the physical aura of her prescence to alert him to the danger, he had no way of preparing himself for what came next. Alma waited for him to close the door, standing by patiently as the paranoid shinobi locked and sealed it.

Then she spoke.

"Hello, Danzou."

Credit where it was due, the old man moved quickly. Just not quickly enough. In the last six years, Alma had visted the dreams of every citizen of Konoha, ever shinobi. She'd learned skills that would've taken most the rest of their life to learn, and, while she couldn't replicate all of them, there were some that she'd taken to most handily.

So when he tried to pull back the bandages on that eye of his, she put those skills to work.

Danzo found himself in something akin to an out-of-body experience as he watched himself get pounded every which way by a little girl. He felt the pain, felt the force pushing his body in the decreed direction, but in his shock, he just couldn't process any of it. A punch to his right cheek was immediately followed by one to his left, which flowed into yet another strike to his stomach, and to that a chop to the now-exposed back of his neck, summarily sending him to his knees only to be blasted backwards by the merciless kick to his face once there.

The warm carpet of his quarters greeted his face but for a moment, then someone grabbed him by what remained of his hair and tugged him upright. He found him face to face with the little terror. Alma's smile seemed benevolent, when it was really anything but. A hand shot out, digging into his face, probing at the bandages, pulling_...pain._

PAIN!

Danzo screamed, a roaring, inhuman sound of pure, primal, agonizing fire as he felt small fingers wrap around the viscous membrane of his eye and begin to _pull._ Agony was suddenly everywhere, filling him, devouring him CONSUMING him! Something tore, and he felt renewed agony flair in his skull, half of his vision gone to black.

Still more screaming.

Peering through a bloodshot eye, he beheld his stolen Sharingan, clutched in Alma's hand. "Oh, I know what this is." she mused aloud, observing the bloody thing held in her palm with frightening interest. "You wanted to use this to control me. Naruto. Us. Not anymore." She squeezed, pulping it into a fine mass. Danzo gurgled wetly as she released him, flopping to the floor. A fine, bloody mist frothed at his lips.

"That brat..I never...should have...let him live!"

Her golden eyes met his lone one, narrowing coldly.

_"Is that so?"_

Too late, he realized his mistake.

"Pain." Alma whispered with a hiss, the word soft like velvet sheets as her mind delved into his, sundering it like bloody cabbage. Not good enough. "A thousand needles!" she snarled. Another shriek. "Impalement!" And another. "Struck by lightning!"

Danzo screamed again.

This last one was a wet, keening, choking sound, and it made Alma warm in the strangest sort of places. Humming to herself, she reached down and, taking hold of his arm, began to pull with surprising strength. Danzo went pale. No. She wouldn't! He felt his back arch anew as another round of white-hot intensity descended upon him, crippling him still further, crushing his resistance. He tried to struggle upright. If only he could focus! If he only he could-

Ah, but _Alma _wouldn't have that.

"And the arm goes_ breeeeaaaaak!"_

_"Aaaaargh!"_

With a wet _pop _of sound, the limb came away at the shoulder, grey and discolored. A thought set the arm aflame, leaving it smoldering in the corner, setting the curtains alight. Thick, oily smoke began to spread across the room, cloying, choking. If Alma was at all aware of the fire she'd accidentally started, she didn't seem to care.

Instead she set to work on his remaining limbs with a patience borne from years of waiting, ripping them free with almost contemptuous ease one by one. Blood spurted wildly amidst the severing, coating the room and her in gore. Alma giggle, utterly un-noticing of the blood spatter on her face.

"Ohhhh, I've waited so long for this!" She was laughing he realized, delighting in the blood and chaos and gore, the flames surrounding her. "Now Naruto will be free. No one will chain him down. He will be mine forever and ever and _ever _and

"Monster...you...monster...

By now the esteemed elder had dissolved into gibbering sobs, unable to do more than cry and choke as the oxygen slowly sucked itself from the room. Air...he couldn't breathe...couldn't...

Alma circled him slowly, her golden eyes reflecting nothing but contempt as she regarded the slowly spreading pool of blood around him. There was a madness there in those golden orbs he thought, that last bastion of sanity recognizing that the girl was completely, utterly insane. She could not be controlled, she could not-would not!-be stopped.

"I suppose I should thank you, though."

A glazed eye cut towards her.

"You were useful for a bit, I admit." she continued, smiling as she sashayed back and forth, to and fro. "You really were. You gave me the chance to make Naruto strong. To make him untouchable. But now you want to use him. Like the rest. Use me. And I...well, I just can't have that." Her hand waved again and the aging shinobi collapsed, still trapped in his own mind. He never saw her drape a burning curtains across him, never felt the flames creeping up across his back until it was too late.

"Goodbye, Danzo." she intoned sweetly, sounding very much like a little girl. "I hate you."

The last thing he saw were the eyes before she vanished. Those awful...

_...eerie..._

**_...eyes!_**

* * *

><p>Migraines.<p>

Sarutobi always seemed to have one nowadays, a constant thud-thud-thud always beating at the back of his brain whenever Alma Wade came to pay him a visit. He chalked up the fact that she'd simply appeared as yet another unexplained ability; by this point he was well beyond questioning what the girl could do. She came and went as she pleased, and to those who dared to get in her way...

Well, he supposed the raging fire that'd just consumed Danzo's residence was a testament to her work. Most unfortunate, that. But accidents were known to happen, and his old teammate was getting up there in age so surely it wasn't more than a coincidence...

More than a coincidence, indeed!

"You killed him, didn't you?" he didn't look up from his desk.

Alma nodded sagely, looking perversely pleased with herself as she stood before him. "Yes, and I regret nothing." she swayed back and forth on bloody feet. "He was going to use Naruto and I for his own ends. So I-

"On the contrary," the wizened kage held up a hand, interrupting. "I congratulate you. In fact, I'd like to reward you, and Naruto both. Here."

He was keenly aware of those golden eyes on him throughout as he dipped a hand beneath his desk. She trusted no one outside of Naruto, after all. Doubtlessly she expected him to draw a kunai. Imagine her surprise then, when he emerged with a small box. And within said box...

For the first time since he'd met her, a confused looked flitted across her face. She looked down at the pair of headbands she'd been given, then at him, and back to the headbands again. "I...don't understand." And she didn't, not in the slightest. The man was...rewarding her? That didn't make sense. She'd had minimal contact with the man over the last six years, but each time she was certain he was scared senseless of her. So why, then, would he...?"

"Have you ever thought about joining a team, Alma?"

Her eyes narrowed.

"I only care about Naruto."

"Yes, yes, I'm sure you do." he nodded, "but haven't you given any thought to having friends? This village is your home, after all."

Those words drew a soft hiss from her; she didn't like where this was going. "I don't need friends."

"But you _do_ want them, don't you?"

"I...!" she faltered and looked away, suddenly uncertain. "Naruto is all I need." True, Naruto was her all, her everything, but even she couldn't be with him every waking moment. A friend. Naruto was more than that to her, but the idea of a friend...someone who understood her in a different way...she'd never thought about it before. A seed was planted in her mind.

"How would I go about this "Team" business, were I interested?"

For all his trepidation, Sarutobi found himself physically shaking as he fought off laughter. Clearly the young teen was interested.

He told her. "As a matter of fact, I've already selected something for you and Naruto. You need only meet her in the training grounds tomorrow. Your sensei, as well."

"And if we don't like it?" her brow darkened thunderously.

"Then the two of you may go on as you always have."

...very well."

A silent swish of sound and she was gone.

Hiruzen groaned, hiding his head in hand. "Kami preserve me, what I have I_ done...?"_

Only after he was certain she'd left did he truly allow himself to sag in defeat. He'd learned a valuable lesson in the last six years concerning Alma Wade. She couldn't be controlled. At most you could hope to _aim_ her at something and let her destroy everything in that given direction. Opposing her, was pointless, as Danzo had just demonstrated. So long as he remained on her good side, he should have nothing to fear, in theory at any rate.

Still, the thought nagged at him. He couldn't play this game forever. Not without lethal consequences. Something had to be done.

_Surely_ there was a way to send her back from whence she had come...

* * *

><p>"You seem pretty happy."<p>

"Oh? Am I?" Alma preened prettily under the attention, flicking a moist strand of dark hair from her face as she walked beside her beloved through the market. Beside. Not forward or behind, but right next to him, Alma thought to herself, as equals. If Naruto had any suspicions as to why she was so secretly delighted he didn't seem intent on sharing them. Perhaps he knew what she'd been up to. Perhaps not.

"I think you are." he replied.

"Hmm." she hummed softly, resting her head against the shoulder of his scarlet jacket where his headband lay. Naruto grunted in surprise at the sudden contact but didn't protest, adjust his arm to hold her loosely. He hadn't protested either when she'd suddenly shown up with a pair of _hitiate_ in hand, insisting they were now officially recognized as shinobi.

All in all, she was quite pleased with herself.

A quick bath had cleaned her of the blemishes and blood from her grisly task; by the time Naruto had woken to find her, he was none the wiser. Her red dress-the only real article of clothing she had-was fresh and clean without so much as a drop of blood. Her own headband lay worn loosely around her neck, the black cloth warm against her skin as his arm brushed hers, his shoulder still draped around her like a protective blanket. Her boy sang happily; her heart did a small flutter at the contact, memories of that bloody day coming back to her.

Alma ducked her head, looking up at him through dark lashes.

"Hey...kiss me?"

"Eh?!"

The poor boy nearly tripped over his own two feet and sent them both tumbling at the question. They stopped walking. She was suddenly, intensely aware of his hand in hers, their fingers twining together like a finely woven knot. A knot she used to tug him closer, away from the main road and into an alley. They were alone in the street but a part of her felt self conscious despite that; not wanting others to see this special, intimate moment.

Her hands found his chest in the dark, pushing him against a wall, her fingertips questing.

Naruto sputtered, looking down at her. "W-What's this all of a sudden?"

A small, nervous smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "Do you not want to kiss me again? I do."

His flush deepened at the frankness of her statement as she stood on her tiptoes, kissing his chin.

"Jeez, you're so forward, dattebayo...

"But you like that...right?" she asked, purring as his hand moved to cup her cheek. She needed confirmation, craved his praise like a drug. Without him, she was nothing. Without him, she had no reason to be here. The words, then, when they came, were the most wonderful thing she'd ever heard.

"Always."

That was all Alma needed to hear. She was so happy she accidentally sent a trash can sailing with her powers. Naruto balked.

"Whoa!"

"Mine." she whispered softly herself, scooting forward. "You're definitely mine. No one else can have you."

"Uh...Alma? What's with that glazed look in your eyes...?"

"MINE!"

Then she pounced!

She all but floated into his arms, wrapping legs and arms around him and pressing her cool lips to his. The kiss was like drinking fine wine and Alma lost herself in just as he did, closing her eyes as his body pressed on and against hers, his mouth devouring hers hungrily. Her tongue licked at his lower lip, begging for entry, and he yielded with a moan.

Alma felt every fiber of her being come alive at that sound.

Yes.

This was what she craved, the feeling she'd been craving since that mission.

_Yes._ She felt his hands hitch up beneath her dress, and then suddenly she was the one pressed against crumbling brick wall, holding her, cupping her, causing small tingles of delight to shoot up and down her spine. He held her tight, kissing, kissing, always kissing and it felt so wonderful she could feel her thoughts blending with his and it was perfect blissfuldeargodineverwantthistostopyesyesyesyesyesyes-

_"YES!"_

The cry tore from her in an involuntary gasp as she bucked against his leg, and she felt something wet sluice down her thigh. It didn't take long for her to realize what'd happened. She'd enjoyed herself so much that she'd actually...

Hurriedly, Naruto released her, fearing as though he might've hurt her.

"Okay...what?"

"Hmm, I think I'm satisfied for now," she decided, reveling in the baffled look her lover wore. It was just so...adorable.

"Oi! Wait a sec! What just happened?! Did I hurt you or something?"

Alma laughed and kept walking. "Oh, Naruto, you could never hurt me...

Except when he did.

In that at least, a small part of her was grateful that she couldn't influence him like the others; because it would've made things too easy. Naruto was Naruto because he _was _Naruto, and twisted as that logic might sound to others, it made a certain sort of sense to Alma. If she could make her Light do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, then he wouldn't be any fun.

She liked it-and hated it-on those rare occasions when he disagreed with her, when they fought over something. It made her love him all the more. He was her Light of course, but sometimes she rather liked it when he was Dark, too. She liked anything and everything about him. Because he wasn't a pawn, not like the others. He was her _partner. _The King to her Queen.

In the end for all he'd done, Danzo was merely another of her tools of the trade. She'd cultivated many assets this way; many of whom didn't even know they _were _hers to begin with.

Today, one of those assets had outlived its usefulness. It had become a threat, and so it had died.

Simple as that.

"Alma-chan?"

"Oh, its nothing." Alma put her arm around Naruto's again as she had so many times before, but this time he pulled it back out, unwilling to be steered. Her smile was merry; a facade not to let him see just how much it hurt. Rejection was something she feared and loathed in equal measure, more than anything else.

They walked down a short, broad street consisting of clothing shops and food stand, pleasing scents reaching them. Alma tapped her fingertips together with quiet interest, her eyes scanning the stands and shops as the two of them passed. Naruto felt a small smile pull at his lips. She felt his emotions through their shared bond, but even then his reply genuinely surprised her.

"Wanna go in?"

She spun on him, eyes shining. _"Can we?!"_

What followed could be described as both heaven and hell by a certain unfortunate blond. In that day alone he learned that Alma had a most curious taste for clothes...and she loved showing off for him. The day ended with several bags worth of new clothes all but _given _to them by the terrified shopkeep, drifting behind their heads in a telekinetic hold.

They didn't return home until the next morning.

* * *

><p>"Odd."<p>

Alma peered intently at the girl that was to be her "teammate" and wasn't entirely certain she disliked what she saw. She'd been waiting for them at the grounds. One glance at her mind had told her much, but it was the sheer depth of information, the overwhelming amount, that immediately baffled her.

Yes. Odd. Very odd indeed.

"Um...is there something on my face, Alma-san?"

The goddess gave the Hyuuga a stern look, sending her back into stammering silence as they waited. Odd. Yes, very odd indeed.

Alma found herself slightly shocked, to find another like her and Naruto. She simply hadn't paid attention befre. Until now. She was even more surprised how much this pale-eyed girl's lot echoed her own. A father that ruthlessly attempted to sculpt her into what he believed she should. Bruises and blood, inside and out as she was struck beneath her skin in an attempt to force her to comply. Even beneath that thick jacket, she could see them clear as day, here in the training field. A sister who was abused.

A sister that took all the pain, a sister received all the praise, while she was left in the dirt.

True the sisters cared for each other, but it would be a little too shocking if the similarity was exact. This girl watched them, she felt her eyes on Naruto, and also on herself. Felt the longing within them, to stand beside Naruto, to have the strength Alma so easily showed in the face of those that would hurt her.

Alma mused on this, could she ever bring herself to shae Naruto, even with someone so like herself? What about when they grew older? She wanted something special with Naruto, could she let this relative newcomer in? She was nothing like the pink one from before. She was quieter for one.

If she were to join them, Alma was confident she could rein her in from being too forward with Naruto. Although...her thoughts drifted back to one of her psychic jaunts. She remembered following a silver-haired man, remembered him reading a peculiar orange book, that book had been responsible for stirring some of her feelings towards Naruto, but now that she thought about it, she remembered the scene on the page.

A man and a woman, locked in an embrace that still brought a blush to her face. But there had been a second woman, hugging the man from behind, looking over his shoulder at the first woman with an intense gaze and a smile on her face. There was an interesting thought, that when she had her Naruto, she could also have a way to see what he made her feel, through the form of another. As her mind spun with possibilities and the blush rose to atomic levels, Alma released a giggle that she instantly realized echoed the silver-haired man's.

_'Oh, my...'_

"Alma?"

Blinking herself out her stupor, she glanced at Naruto and feigned a smile, secretly trying to imagine it. She liked the way his lips felt on hers. No. Perhaps like was too tame of a word. She'd loved it. She wanted to feel it again, to taste it, him, devour him...and she wasn't willing to share that with someone. Not yet. Perhaps not ever. A wave of jealousy crested over her. Teammate or not...

No.

She shook her head, suppressing it, suddeny feeling possessive. Naruto was hers. No one else could have him.

NO ONE.

One final shaking pushed these thoughts from her head for the time being.

"Well, well," a new voice sounded, "Looks like the three of you are here...oh no."

Her eyes snapped open so hard it could have been audible. She stood there for many tense, breathless seconds, until it became apparent that no one else was going to speak. Despite her best efforts her lower lip gave a small twitch; that was all it took for the floodgates to burst once she laid eyes on the man who would be "teaching" the three of them. An involuntary, dismayed giggle forced itself through her lips. It was...him! That very same person!

"Ano...Alma?"

Naruto blinked. "Oi, Alma-chan? What's so funny?"

Kakashi Hatake blanched when he saw the girl in her red dress. "Oh, its you...

There was a silence. Fate, she thought was truly a strange thing.

And then...

And_ then._

Then Alma Wade laughed so hard she_ cried._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And there we have it! NarutoxAlma! I've only seen two stories pairing these two together, but I thought to myself, what if it started from the beginning. A young Alma and a young Naruto, all of this before the F.E.A.R. games themselves. Now, I obviously didn't want to bring Naruto to Alma's world-tried that already, it just didn't work-but the thought of little Alma Wade raining down a fiery vengeance on any who dared to trifle with what she saw as hers, now...that's something I could get behind! And yes, Orochimaru is dead! Kaput! Gonzo! He won't be coming back!**

**So, in the Immortal Words of Atlas...**

**...Review, Would You Kindly? And of course, enjoy the preview! The death and horror continues! Naruto and Alma are becoming more and more comfortable with one another and as you can see he remains a good influence on her, while she's a terrible, _terrible TERRIBLE _one on him. **

** ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE WHEN PEOPLE TRY TO SEPARATE ALMA FROM NARUTO! With just a little more obsessive fluff...A reviewer wrote this, and I found it amusing enough to add. Make of it what you will! Pairing remains NarutoxAlma! And the second preview hints at dark times to come...**

**...**

**...and yes, this previous is just a little derpy on Alma's viewpoint, for the hell of it XD ALSO! Hell of a fight next chapter!**

**(Preview)**

_Alma's face lit up in delight as she beheld the Demon of the Mist._

_It was a nice title, she thought. Demon of the Mist. Very nice. Why didn't SHE have a title like that? Why didn't Naruto, for that matter. They were awesome. They deserved titles. Something frightening, something that would strike terror in the hearts of the enemy. Hmm. She quietly filed the thought away for later review._

_"You said you were a demon, right?"_

_Zabuza frowned down at the girl standing before him. "Hmm?" The head cleaver shifted restlessly over his shoulder, unable to hide its contempt. "You're going to fight me?"_

_Her smile deepened. "No." she turned, pointing. "He is."_

_"Him?"_

_Naruto stepped forward, eyes flashing as he cracked his knuckles and shucked his coat. Odd, Zabuza thought. Why were those eyes red. That didn't make any sense, unless-oh-that's wonderful! __Before his very eyes, the boy dropped to all fours, his skin beginning to peel, exposing grisly scarlet beneath. Fangs flashed in the mist._

_"Let me show you what a **real** demon is."_

_And he did._

**R&R! =D**


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